The present invention relates to office furniture and in particular the invention relates to office furniture systems and office furniture components that efficiently and advantageously combine features both of individual freestanding furniture pieces and of wall panel systems with hanging furniture and that include provision for top lay-in cable management.
Office furniture is typically available in individual freestanding pieces, such as desks, cabinets, bookcases, or in "hanging" furniture that attaches to wall panels or partitions. In an open floor plan office design, movable wall panels or partitions are used to define work spaces and provide visual and auditory privacy. Where such wall panel systems are used, hanging furniture (i.e. furniture that attaches to the panel system) has an advantage that it can be efficiently integrated into the design of the wall panel system. Wall panels may thus provide for the support of work surfaces, cabinets, shelving, and the like.
Although wall panel systems with hanging furniture can be efficiently utilized in many modern offices, in some modern offices the volume of items requiring storage can exceed the capacity of the cabinets, desks and other units that are provided by the wall panel system. Thus, the lack of adequate storage can become a significant problem. Lack of adequate storage can result in clutter and disorganization that is not only unaesthetic in appearance but also may result in costs associated with losing documents or other items, searching for misplaced documents or other items, and having to physically move to reach items routinely. Clutter can also be potentially hazardous to the office worker from the standpoint of falling over items placed on the floor. Clutter can also be potentially a fire hazard. Cluttered desks, floors, and shelves also are more difficult to clean or may take more time to clean thereby also possibly resulting in greater costs or less than thorough cleaning. Thus, there are numerous drawbacks and costs associated with cluttered offices and eliminating clutter can be very advantageous to a business.
Reducing clutter in an office requires places to put the items that constitute the clutter, i.e. adequate storage facilities. It is the lack of adequate storage, or storage that is convenient to use, that in many instances is at the root of the clutter problem. Adequate storage is thus a prerequisite to reducing disorganization and clutter in many offices.
In providing for adequate storage, it should be recognized that there are different types of storage to meet different needs. Primary or individual storage is the type of storage most often controlled by a individual worker. This type of storage would typically be located in the individual worker's immediate work space. This type of storage would be used by the individual worker on a daily basis or several times a day. This type of storage would be used for the individual worker's work-in-progress. Another type of storage includes secondary storage. This type of storage would be for items used less frequently or that relate to group activities. Yet another type of storage is archival. Archival storage may be accessible by the individual or by the group but would relate to items that would be consulted only occasionally. Other types of storage, e.g. off-site or remote storage, are typically outside the design of the office space. Such types of storage may accessed only rarely and then by having the material brought over by someone other than the individual.
Within these types of storage, there may be further subcategories. For example, in the primary personal storage category, there may be storage that is accessible from the individual's work place while seated and storage accessible by standing or taking a step.
In prior office systems, such as those that are designed around movable wall panels or partitions, the storage problem may be related in part to the limited storage capacity typically provided by such wall panel systems. With typical prior wall panel systems, the storage units are provided by attaching cabinets or other units to the wall panel. Such storage units may provide only limited capacity. Moreover, since such storage units may typically be designed around the wall panel system, they require the availability of a wall panel. If a wall panel is not available in the immediate area where needed, further storage may not be readily added there.
Although adequate storage is an important consideration in modern offices, another important consideration is the provision for adequate cable management. The distribution of wiring or cabling for electrical service, data and telephone is one of the most important and most rapidly evolving aspects of modern office design. In many modern office systems, it is essential to provide a high level of electrical, data, and communications service to workers for computers, laser printers, copying machines, fax machines, local area networks (including network servers), voice mail, video, and the like. Although the nature of these services vary, each imposes a requirement for providing cabling to the serviced office worker. Moreover, current trends suggest that these needs will continue and likely increase in the future.
In prior typical office systems designed around wall panels or partitions, one way that has been adapted for cable distribution is to use channels located in or under partition walls or panels. This prior approach has a number of disadvantages. For example, such channels may be limited by the dimensions of the wall panels. Thus, traditional wall panel systems typically provide only limited available cross sectional area for cabling. Moreover, even where wall panel systems have been adapted to accommodate cable distribution, often the cabling management channels are located along only the bottom portions of the wall panels or the same channel must be shared by electrical, telephone, and data cabling. Furthermore, in wall panel systems that provide channels for cabling, the channels are sometimes difficult to access thereby making it difficult to lay-in or replace cabling. Accordingly, there is a need for an office system that provides adequate cabling management for electrical, data, and telecommunications, and preferably that provides for separate passage ways for telephone and data cabling apart from the electrical cabling.
Yet another important consideration in modern offices relates to space utilization. With high rents in prime office buildings, it is essential to utilize office space as efficiently as possible. This can involve minimizing the area occupied by each individual office worker while at the same time providing the office worker with a functional work space area afforded with ample privacy and at least a perception of ample room. Typical prior office systems designed around wall panels or partitions do afford a level of privacy, that is limited ultimately by the dimensions of the wall panels, e.g. 2 to 3 inches in thickness.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide the advantages of wall panel systems and additionally provide increased storage and cable management capability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture solution that is compatible with existing wall panel systems.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a furniture component that can be utilized in manner similar to wall panel systems and provide additional advantages relating to storage and cable management.